TransLink Tracker Q3 2011-12

[Fares_Fair]

Minister for Transport and Main Roads
The Honourable Scott Emerson
Thursday, July 05, 2012

LNP tackles public transport confidence crisis

Passengers lost confidence in public transport over the final months of Labor and with good reason, according to the latest TransLink report.

Minister for Transport and Main Roads Scott Emerson said the Q3 TransLink Tracker confirmed train on-time running had dropped to its lowest level in three years and affordability on trains had dropped to its lowest level ever.

"This document underlines Labor's trifecta of failure in rail services, with its appalling record on affordability, reliability and frequency," Mr Emerson said.

"Rail peak on-time running of 90 per cent was the worst result in almost three years.

"At the same time public transport affordability dropped to 45 per cent for trains and 51 and 53 per cent for buses and ferries respectively.

"One of the challenges for the Newman Government will be to restore confidence in our public transport network."

43.97 million commuter trips was 11 per cent higher than the January to March period of 2011 when flooding shut down much of the regional public transport network.

"Patronage levels in this quarter were less than they were three years ago however, despite the on-going population growth across South East Queensland," he said.

"Our plan to restore confidence in our public transport network and get more people to travel on it includes improving service reliability, frequency and affordability.

"We've tackled that challenge head on by introducing free trips after nine journeys. We'll also be halving Labor's fare hikes in 2013 and 2014.

"In terms of frequency we are finalising plans to provide 15 minute daytime off-peak services on the Ferny Grove line."

Other key public transport indicators for the January to March 2012 quarter show:

•the average fare per trip paid by customers in the quarter was $2.13
•the average Queensland Government subsidy per trip was $6.71
•there were a record 11 million customer enquiries to TransLink's website and call centre
The Q3 2011/12 TransLink Tracker and the March 2012 Queensland Rail Passenger Load Survey are available online at translink.com.au.

[ENDS] 5 July 2012

[ozbob]

January to March (Quarter 3) 2011-2012 (PDF, 2MB)

http://translink.com.au/resources/about-translink/reporting-and-publications/2011-12-quarterly-report-jan-to-mar.pdf

[ozbob]

Bus on time performance is still in fantasy land.  Clearly nonsense ...

[SurfRail]

The story on Bribie Island Coaches is instructive - have a look at their 1997 patronage compared to now (around 2,400% increase)!

[somebody]

"We've tackled that challenge head on by introducing free trips after nine journeys.

I'll be very interested if the data shows that this has helped.  I guess we won't know for another 6 months.

We'll also be halving Labor's fare hikes in 2013 and 2014.

So they are committed to the fare hikes, then!

-
Fare per trip has gone up massively.  $2.13 vs $1.89.  A 12.7% increase.  Only slightly less than the 15% hike.  Rail report doesn't show a trend towards longer trips either.

[Fares_Fair]

Article: Train strain, outages drive lateness surge.
By Daniel Hurst

http://m.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/train-strain-outages-drive-lateness-surge-20120705-21jjl.html

Major rail disruptions in the first few months of 2012 pushed late train results to the worst level in almost three years, southeast Queensland's latest passenger report card shows. The latest quarterly TransLink Tracker report, issued this afternoon, shows 90.01 per cent of trains were deemed to be on time in January, February and March. This result was well down from the 94.54 per cent result in the previous three months, and fell short of the 93.77 per cent on-time benchmark set by TransLink. Transport Minister Scott Emerson said it was the worst result in almost three years. The TransLink report notes there were "several major outages on the rail network" during the quarter, which would have influenced the result. The release of the latest Tracker report comes on the same day the new Liberal National Party government flagged major job cuts at Queensland Rail.

TransLink counts a train as on time if it arrives less than four minutes before or after the scheduled arrival time on all lines except the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, where the benchmark is within six minutes. The official result in January, February and March 2012 was worse than the 92.2 per cent figure recorded in the same quarter last year, even though the first three months of 2011 included the disruptive floods that hit Brisbane and the region. A spokesman for Mr Emerson said TransLink excluded flood disruptions from the 2011 on-time results as it considered the natural disaster to fall within the definition of "force majeure", colloquially known as an act of God. The lead up to the March 2012 election saw several major disruptions which became the subject of political brawling. Thousands of travellers were left stranded for hours from the morning of February 28 after an electrical fault stopped trains from passing through inner-city train stations, prompting the former Bligh government to announce a day of free travel as compensation. Passengers also experienced disruptions early on the morning of March 14 after vegetation growing about 300 metres west of Milton station came into contact with the overhead power equipment. Last month, Mr Emerson told Parliament an audit of the rail network had suggested both incidents were preventable. The final audit report, which will recommend ways to improve rail reliability, is yet to be released. Today's TransLink Tracker report shows southeast Queensland bus operators achieved an on-time running result of 95.52 per cent in January, February and March this year. This was above the 90 per cent benchmark for the region's buses. The definition for an on-time bus is different from that of trains. TransLink considers a bus service to be on time if it arrives up to six minutes after or up to two minutes before the scheduled arrival time.

[BrizCommuter]

http://brizcommuter.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/translink-tracker-q3-201112-and-qr-load.html
BrizCommuter review of the latest TransLink Tracker.

[somebody]

At least subsidy per trip has grown by less than CPI.  Although that does ignore the flood impact in Q3-2010/11.

[Golliwog]

http://brizcommuter.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/translink-tracker-q3-201112-and-qr-load.html
BrizCommuter review of the latest TransLink Tracker.

Thinking about the discrepancy between Fixed Fares and Adjustments though, Each FF is recorded individualy (hence why they can give that as a % of trips) but an adjustment can be for more than one fixed fare. Not sure to what degree that occurs though. Perhaps for better clarity on these matters they could mark of each corrected fixed fare in the system to give better detail on the number of pax not getting their fares corrected.

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

5th July 2012

TransLink Tracker - more bus nonsense

Greetings,

The TransLink Tracker ( http://translink.com.au/resources/about-translink/reporting-and-publications/2011-12-quarterly-report-jan-to-mar.pdf ) again has bus performance at a 'worlds best' at 95.52%.  Even with the odd of six minutes after or two minutes behind limits, to suggest the bus OTP is 95.52% is nonsense.  Buses run on congested roads and busways.  Why the figures are nonsense is detailed in this interview on 612 ABC Brisbane -->  http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=8060.msg94505#msg94505 and http://blogs.abc.net.au/queensland/2012/04/translink-stats-for-oct-dec-2011-released.html

The reality is bus OTP would be struggling to reach 85% overall.

The public is becoming tired of being fed rubbish and meaningless data.

Another view point is here -->  http://brizcommuter.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/translink-tracker-q3-201112-and-qr-load.html

Can TransLink please explain in detail how they actually assess bus OTP?

Best wishes
Robert

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track http://backontrack.org

[ozbob]

Adelaide, bus OTP  66%, http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/one-in-three-buses-miss-deadlines/story-e6frea83-1226413857865

Perth, bus OTP Transperth bus system punctuality  May was 71%
http://www.transperth.wa.gov.au/AboutUs/Surveysandstatistics.aspx

Sydney, bus OTP  89.5% 
http://www.statetransit.info/performance-information/quarterly/Performance%20Information%20-Quarterly-%20March%202012.pdf

[ozbob]

From Brisbane mX 6 July 2012 page 2

Commuters off track

[ozbob]

Go card fixed fares 2.2%, or a fixed fare results on average every 45 trips.

Only 1 in 20 fixed fares is adjusted.  (adjustments 11 per 10,000 trips which equals 0.11%).

Go card usage now around 82% of all trips.

[ozbob]

It really is concerning how they continue to publish the bus OTP as being around 95% or so, which is contradicted by the results on page 10 Customer Satisfaction for reliability and frequency.

Bus 64, train 70, ferry 78.

[Golliwog]

Go card fixed fares 2.2%, or a fixed fare results on average every 45 trips.

Only 1 in 20 fixed fares is adjusted.  (adjustments 11 per 10,000 trips which equals 0.11%).

Go card usage now around 82% of all trips.

The only point that goes against that is that 1 adjustment can be for more than one fixed fare. I think that's why the fixed fares can be represented as a % but adjustments are given as a rate per 10,000 trips. I know I've had times where I received 2 fixed fares for the one issue (it occured on a rail-bus interchange so I got a fixed fare touching off the train and again touching onto the bus). Though funnily enough for that case I ended up with 3 adjustments...

[ozbob]

Nothing changes Golli.  The number of fixed fares is as stated.  The adjustments could be single or few multiple. Again that is a defined rate.

A fixed fare IS generated on average ever 45 trips.  Adjustments occur at the rate of 0.11% of the fixed fares.  I would suggest that each adjustment is counted cumulatively and adjustments represent the absolute number.  Otherwise meaningless.

[somebody]

Be interesting to see if fixed fares drop if fare gates at stations like Helensvale were manned full time.

[Golliwog]

Nothing changes Golli.  The number of fixed fares is as stated.  The adjustments could be single or few multiple. Again that is a defined rate.

A fixed fare IS generated on average ever 45 trips.  Adjustments occur at the rate of 0.11% of the fixed fares.  I would suggest that each adjustment is counted cumulatively and adjustments represent the absolute number.  Otherwise meaningless.

When you say each adjustment is counted cumulatively, what exactly do you mean? That they count the number of fixed fares an adjustment is covering, or just the number of adjustments that occur in total?

[ozbob]

I think they count each adjustment.  So if someone had three adjustments that would be recorded as three adjustments, not one.

[Golliwog]

And thats why I don't think you can directly compare the fixed fare rate and adjustment rate. You can have multiple fixed fares being corrected with the 1 adjustment, or if the adjustment is done incorrectly, multiple adjustments for the one fixed fare.

I'm not disagreeing that there definitely appears to be a large number of fixed fares that go by uncorrected, just that I don't think you can compare them in a 1:1 fashion.

[ozbob]

And thats why I don't think you can directly compare the fixed fare rate and adjustment rate. You can have multiple fixed fares being corrected with the 1 adjustment, or if the adjustment is done incorrectly, multiple adjustments for the one fixed fare.

I'm not disagreeing that there definitely appears to be a large number of fixed fares that go by uncorrected, just that I don't think you can compare them in a 1:1 fashion.

Been done for years, the differences would be minor in any case.  TransLink has not corrected  or challenged it, so I can only assume it is a fair measure of fixed fares actually followed up (adjusted).  The other way of looking at is that the fixed fare adjustment rate is actually worse than what the figures suggest, although it would not be much worse ....

Because

Following an increase in fixed fares which
has impacted on figures for Q1 and Q2
this year, Q3 has also experienced a
reduction in the fixed fare rate and an
increase in fixed fare adjustments.

http://translink.com.au/resources/about-translink/reporting-and-publications/2011-12-quarterly-report-jan-to-mar.pdf page 9

TransLink themselves are talking about fixed fare adjustments ...

[Golliwog]

Fair point. I would expect cases like mine where I was hit with 2 fixed fares for the one issue would be the minority.

[ozbob]

Letter to the editor published Couriermail 9th July 2012 page 22

Who's being taken for a ride?

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

25th July 2012

Public feedback at odds with stated bus OTP

Greetings,

Very interesting poll at Brisbanetimes. See --> http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/polls/queensland/seq-buses-under-review-20120724-22ljt.html

Affordability is a a major issue.  Next is reliability.  A bus system that allegedly operates at 95% OTP would not have these results now, would it?

Farce. 

Best wishes
Robert

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track http://backontrack.org

====================================

6/07/2012 6:02 AM

Greetings,

Interesting bus OTP from the real world ...

Adelaide, bus OTP  66%, http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/one-in-three-buses-miss-deadlines/story-e6frea83-1226413857865

Perth, bus OTP Transperth bus system punctuality  May was 71%
http://www.transperth.wa.gov.au/AboutUs/Surveysandstatistics.aspx

Sydney, bus OTP  89.5%
http://www.statetransit.info/performance-information/quarterly/Performance%20Information%20-Quarterly-%20March%202012.pdf

LOL

Yes, Brisbane, the world leader NOT!

Best wishes
Robert

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track http://backontrack.org

Sent to all outlets:

5th July 2012

TransLink Tracker - more bus nonsense

Greetings,

The TransLink Tracker ( http://translink.com.au/resources/about-translink/reporting-and-publications/2011-12-quarterly-report-jan-to-mar.pdf ) again has bus performance at a 'worlds best' at 95.52%.  Even with the odd of six minutes after or two minutes behind limits, to suggest the bus OTP is 95.52% is nonsense.  Buses run on congested roads and busways.  Why the figures are nonsense is detailed in this interview on 612 ABC Brisbane -->  http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=8060.msg94505#msg94505 and http://blogs.abc.net.au/queensland/2012/04/translink-stats-for-oct-dec-2011-released.html

The reality is bus OTP would be struggling to reach 85% overall.

The public is becoming tired of being fed rubbish and meaningless data.

Another view point is here -->  http://brizcommuter.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/translink-tracker-q3-201112-and-qr-load.html

Can TransLink please explain in detail how they actually assess bus OTP?

Best wishes
Robert

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track http://backontrack.org